4 Possible Targets for the Flyers at the Trade Deadline
The Flyers have had their ups-and-downs so far this season, as per usual, but they’ve been fairly consistent and dominant at the Well Fargo Center. Oh, and they’ve beaten the top four teams in the league over the last two weeks.
Pretty good, right?
If they were in any other division, they would be in an ideal spot but in the Metropolitan Division, 60 points is just good enough for sixth place and tied for a wild card spot with Columbus.
There’s no way around it: the Metropolitan (and the Eastern Conference) is stacked. Essentially, its Washington and Boston sitting comfortably at the top and eight other teams constantly moving up and down. It’s going to be a race to the finish line between the Flyers and likely, the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes, and Islanders in the Metropolitan with Florida and Toronto pushing for a wild card spot, as well.
So, while the Flyers have positioned themselves well as they enter the all-star break, they will need more as their season enters the final 32 games.
With the trade deadline coming up, comes the opportunity to add a few pieces to put them over the edge in a highly-competitive Metropolitan Division.
The Current Roster
Forwards
Farabee – Couturier – Voracek
JVR – Giroux – Konecny
Laughton – Hayes – Aube-Kubel
Rubstov – Bunnaman – Pitlick
The Flyers’ is fairly solid and will swap Michael Raffl with German Rubstov when the Flyers return next week in Pittsburgh.
The two spots currently occupied by Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Connor Bunnaman should be where Chuck Fletcher looks to upgrade. Obviously, these two spots were supposed to be occupied by Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick but without them, the last two forward spots have been a revolving door all season.
We’ve seen Carsen Twarynski, German Rubstov, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Chris Stewart, Connor Bunnaman, Mikhail Vorobyev, Morgan Frost, David Kase, and Andy Andreoff all get their shots but none have been able to stick.
This should be an area the Flyers should look to sure up in the coming weeks.
Defense
Provorov – Niskanen
Sanheim – Myers
Hagg – Braun
The Flyers defensive core looks to be fairly set moving forward. Provorov has rebounded from a bad year in 2018-19, Niskanen and Braun have been fairly good as defensively-minded defensemen, Sanheim and Myers have shown flashes of great potential.
The Flyers are extremely young outside of Niskanen and Braun, but they have been getting the job done fairly well through 50 games as the Flyers sit at 14th in the league in goals allowed.
The spot currently taken by Hagg who is replacing Gostisbehere who is out with a knee injury is one that Chuck Fletcher could take a look at. Hagg has been decent since Gostisbere went out early this month, but the possibility of adding another veteran to a very young defense is interesting.
Assuming Gostisbehere would retain his role when healthy, he hasn’t brought much to the Flyers again this season with just 12 points in 40 games and less-than-stellar defense.
Goalies
Hart
Elliott
Despite their struggles on the road, these two aren’t going anywhere.
Potential Targets
Jeff Carter, C, Los Angeles Kings
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One name that has been floating around in Flyers trade rumors is the former Flyer, Jeff Carter.
While no longer the 60-70 point player he’s been for much of the last decade, Carter can still score goals as he is second on the Kings with 14.
Carter would absolutely sure up the Flyers bottom-six but the question is do the Flyers want to take on a 35-year-old player under contract for two years at $5.27 million AAV?
For a deal to happen, the Flyers would need Los Angeles to retain part of his salary (likely around 50%). It would also signal that Nolan Patrick likely isn’t going to return this season. A reunion with Carter would be nice but having the extra year on his contract may make Chuck Fletcher look elsewhere.
Tyler Toffoli, RW, Los Angeles Kings
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Another Kings player whose name has been mentioned in trade rumors, Tyler Toffoli could also make sense for the Flyers.
Toffoli’s offensive number (12 goals, 15 assists) are okay considering that the Kings have one of the league’s worst offenses.
While his name hasn’t been tied to the Flyers just yet, he could surely add scoring depth to any playoff contender and is playoff-tested from his time with the Kings.
In the last year of his contract, Toffoli is slated to make just over $4 million this year and it is rumored that he could be had for a second-round pick and a prospect.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, LW, Ottawa Senators
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One of the hottest names on the trade market is that of Senators winger, Jean-Gabriel Pageau. With 19 goals in 46 games, Pageau would bring some much-needed scoring ability to the Flyers.
If a deal were to happen, Pageau would certainly be slotted into the Flyers top six but it would cost them more than a deal to bring in Carter or Toffoli.
Under contract for the rest of this season, a trade to bring in the 27-year-old winger wouldn’t be cheap and would likely cost the Flyers a first-round-pick and a prospect/Gostisbehere.
Brenden Dillon, D, San Jose Sharks
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If Chuck Fletcher does decide to target a defenseman, Dillon will likely be one of the few options out there.
In a defensively-minded role, Dillon has given the Sharks second to third-pairing minutes for the past six seasons.
If the Flyers do choose to move on from Gostisbehere and want an upgrade over Hagg, Dillon would be a cheap addition to the Flyers and could give them a veteran defenseman to plug into their bottom-two pairings.
Other possibilities: D Sami Vatanen, New Jersey, RW Kevin LaBanc and LW Melker Karlsson, San Jose Sharks
Featured Image: NHL.com
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